NBC Says ‘Community’ Will Return…At Some Point

While presenting at the Television Critics Association, NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt spoke frankly about the network’s less-than-stellar ratings and admitted that 2011 was not the best year for the peacock. Discussing the 2012 schedule, Greenblatt confirmed that while it is currently not listed, the return of Community is imminent, but stopped short of providing any firm date.

Given the uproar surrounding the unceremonious (albeit temporary) shelving of Community, any information of its return would likely have provided the beleaguered network with a modicum of goodwill from the show’s small, but ultimately devoted fanbase. Unfortunately, it seems NBC is still trying to figure out just where it will fit amongst the throng of new programs on the network’s docket. “We have a really tight schedule with comedies, so it’s really going to be a matter of looking at what happens with the six comedies we’ve got at midseason,” Greenblatt said.

At this point, it would be safe to assume Community won’t be returning to its original timeslot. So if it will no longer lead off the Thursday night comedy line-up, when will the students of Greendale Community College actually return to class? Greenblatt would only say, “in the spring,” which is far from firm, and certainly does not bode well for its renewal. “Fourth season? I don’t know. Those are really hard questions to answer at this point.”

Greenblatt did point out the show does have an impressively devoted viewership, but the failed attempts to make that audience grow are a point of real concern that may end up being the deciding factor when the fate of Community is finally addressed.

The cast of 'Community' responds to the question of the show's future.

Sadly, the fact of the matter is that after a pretty dismal year – or as Greenblatt put it, “We had a really bad fall, worse than I’d hoped for but about as I expected” – NBC is looking to the future, and underperforming programs – celebrated or not – likely aren’t going to make the cut. As an example of this, Greenblatt discussed the cancellation of The Playboy Club and Prime Suspect, whose failure he says “was probably the biggest disappointment.” But, like Community, Prime Suspect was simply unable to bring in the numbers needed to hoist NBC up from the bottom of the heap.

Perhaps showing his frustration in adjusting to network television, Greenblatt, who came from pay-cable network Showtime, noted that Prime Suspect’s numbers – though not good enough to keep it afloat on NBC for a full season – would have been sufficient to garner a renewal after its third episode, and the program likely would have lasted several seasons on a cable channel like Showtime.

While that’s little comfort to those who tuned in regularly for Prime Suspect or Community, fans of the latter can at least look forward to the remaining 12 episodes of the third season to air at some point in 2012. Beyond that, however, it seems likely that school will be out at Greendale Community College.

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Stay tuned for more news regarding Community and its anticipated return this spring.

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Kevin7 3 years ago

I have a feeling that when “Are You There Chelsea?” bombs just like “Whitney” they will replace it with “Community”. But just because it’s in a different time slot won’t help. It’s a shame because I love the show and wish they would have kept it on Thursday instead of “Up All Night”.

Because clearly, going up against the number one show in television was going so well for them? Community desperately needed a new time slot. Thursdays at 8 it had no lead in, not that great of a “lead out” in Parks & Rec, and it went up against The Big Bang Theory. Putting it on a less crowded night with possibly a stronger show on before it (I don’t really see how it’s an 8PM show) would only help it.

“failed attempts to make that audience grow are a point of real concern”

What failed attempts? They moved it to 8pm a few episodes in, kept it there, and barely promoted it at all, even when heavy-hitter Big Bang Theory moved in opposite it. Despite all of that, it developed a rabid following.

Put it in a decent time slot and give it some love and care, and you’ll have a hit on your hands NBC. It may not be a Friend’s size hit, but it will do well.

They promoted the crap out of Whitney! And I really gave it a chance, and I just didn’t like it and then I watched Parks and Rec and Community and I don’t understand why NBC is so adamant that I watch freaking Whitney and hardly promote their two best shows

NBC needs to stop being picky I mean it’s not like they have an amazing lineup of shows like CBS. The Office is awful now without Steve (I realize it wasn’t perfect in the later seasons but still) and Community is an amazingly well written show that needs to be treated with care. Besides in an interview with the show’s creator, he stated that he saw things ending with season 4, so come on NBC let the creator end the show right and don’t leave us hanging with some crap ending that doesn’t fully wrap everything up like so many networks do these days.

I’m a huge fan of Community and glad to hear that the rest of this season will eventually air. I want to know how they come up with these ratings because I watch my (very few) NBC shows OnDemand and lately I’ve switched over to Hulu Plus. NBC and ABC both provide a variety of ways to watch their programming while neither CBS or FOX is available OnDemand and no CBS shows are available on Hulu. So are ratings only determined by traditional television viewing? If so, that explains why CBS rules the ratings.

Ratings are determined by Nielsen boxes– a few thousand families over serve as a representation for the rest of the country. So just watching it live on TV doesn’t help, you have to have that box. Companies also look at online view counts, but Nielsen ratings are much more important to them.

I like a lot of what people have said in the comments here. I live Community and have been reading up on it’s future since news of the hiatus. Over at TvbytheNumbers they said that Community has a chance at a fourth season because that would put the series into syndication (basically– more money), but that would probably be the only reason it gets renewed.

maybe the producers could move it to netflix, like they are doing with arrested development. i also read somewhere about another new program being made exclusively for netflix. i think that service is really going to start making some bold decisions with producing their own programs. time will tell

I agree! I simply couldn’t get into without watching the first couple seasons, and I accessed some pretty random sites to find the first couple season. And I checked netflix first. Gr. Now I love it though.

I love community! However, I have to say, I grew to love it from watching it in a binge from the first season to present over the winter break. Randomly watching it throughout the season made me interested in it, but it was kind of hard to just turn it on and watch it without a back story, which is weird bc it’s not like some huge plot that you need to know everything about to enjoy, so that might just be me. Maybe it’s just more enjoyable when you understand the characters.
Anywho, come on NBC, if you can bombard the internet with ads about Whitney like in the fall(which is unoriginal and very mediocre compared to community), can’t you throw an ad out about community? Ugh.

Community is brilliant. I only watch a couple of shows on TV and Community is one of them. Unfortunately they put in in the most competitive slot for 8 pm up against The Big Bang Theory. They really should bring the show back. I doubt anything better than Community can fill that spot.

I love commmunity, please keep more episodes coming, they’re dean-effitly the funniest thing on tv since the knights of prosperity or the first 3 seasons of the simpsons, but I’m not doing it justice, here are some examples :
from the first season’s paintball episode, annie pops out of a men’s room trashcan to surprise someone with the lid stuck to her head like a hat, and she’s covered in toilet paper and doesn’t flinch from her sneak attack pose (hilarious!)

In season two’s episode entitled Conspiracy theories and interior design , Jeff takes a trip into the rabbit hole figuratively and you the viewer are taken along for the ride (mysterious!)

In season three’s competitive ecology, the group blatantly insults todd while he is right there with him , (nefarious!)

and in season 1′s environmental science, dean pelton makes a mistake and insists on throwing out 5000 environmental conscientious type posters so they can print 5000 correct ones because it’s “green week”
(ignoramus!)

I think I was the only person who enjoyed The Playboy Club and I’m still bitter about the cancellation after just 3 episodes while Pan Am has about 12 under its belt with the same ratings. And They never tried to even more the show to a different time PLUS we haven’t gotten to see the remaining episodes. It’s stupid decisions that like that turn viewers off of network TV.

Why, oh why is money all that networks care about? Why, oh why is the media a business? It is destroying art. Or rather, not allowing art to happen. This show is a beacon of hope in a world of utter crap. I know it’s my personal opinion, but no TV show has ever made me laugh this hard. Seriously, I think some devoted fans should start funding shows they love. If each fan were to donate… I dunno. I know it sounds silly. Webcomics are an awesome medium because they’re independent and free… We need some genius to come along and sort this out.

“Community” and “30 Rock” were the only things keeping me consistently watching NBC’s wishy-washy Thursday Comedy lineup. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life as I have at some “Community” episodes, and the writing is just subtle genius. No tired, hackneyed sitcom tropes, just brilliant originality.

I was apparently in the minority that actually enjoyed “Perfect Couples,” but I couldn’t stand “Whitney” or “Outsourced.” Though I kept showing up to watch “Community” and “30 Rock” despite the mediocre hangers-on threaded between them.

IMHO, “The Office” keeps getting worse, and “Parks & Rec” keeps getting better, (especially now that it doesn’t focus solely on Amy Poehler) But now, with the quasi-cancellation of “Community”, rather than suffering through the whole 2-hour block of mediocrity just to watch “30 Rock” I set the DVR and walk away.

I just finished the most recent episode “Regional Holiday Music” and after a month-long Community marathon, am already feeling the pangs of withdrawal. Baiting the hook with a partial third season and leaving the untold second semester to the imagination is a form of torture I would pitch to Satan himself. Get it in gear gentlemen, the lack of Whitney-fail awareness is causing me to wonder if Annie’s Boobs himself is running the show at NBC, from a mini cubicle in the air ducts of course. Committ to finish what was started, and please make haste! for Troy is still young and beautiful…